A cold saw is a circular saw designed to cut metal which uses a toothed blade to transfer the heat generated by cutting to the chips created by the saw blade, allowing both the blade and material being cut to remain cool. This is in contrast to an abrasive saw, which abrades the metal and generates a great deal of heat absorbed by the material being cut and saw blade.

As metals expand when heated, abrasive cutting causes both the material being cut and blade to expand, resulting in increased effort to produce a cut and potential binding. This produces more heat through friction, resulting in increased blade wear and greater energy consumption.

Cold saws use either a solid high-speed steel (HSS) or tungsten carbide-tipped, resharpenable circular saw blade. They are equipped with an electric motor and a gear reduction unit to reduce the saw blade's rotational speed while maintaining constant torque. This allows the HSS saw blade to feed at a constant rate with a very high chip load per tooth.

Cold saws are capable of machining most ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Additional advantages include minimal burr production, fewer sparks, less discoloration and no dust. Saws designed to employ a flood coolant system to keep saw blade teeth cooled and lubricated may reduce sparks and discoloration completely. Saw blade type and number of teeth, cutting speed, and feed rate all must be appropriate to the type and size of material being cut, which must be mechanically clamped to prevent movement during the cutting process.